Friday, April 4, 2008

We end the week with a funky, cool video from one of our favorite bands - Los Amigos Invisibles.The Venezuelan-based group will be in concert at New York’s Bowery Ballroom this Saturday night.If you can please go and check them out; you will not be disappointed!

A report from “independent environmental expert” said that oil firm Chevron should pay between $7 billion to $16 billion if it loses a local case.In the lawsuit originally filed by natives and peasants in 1993, Texaco (now owned by Chevron) was accused of dumping billions of gallons of contaminated water in the Amazon rain forest.

Chevron said it would ask the court to remove the report from the legal record in the case. In a prepared release, Ricardo Reis Veiga, managing counsel for Chevron Latin America, pilloried the consultant who issued the report.

"The court's appointee has knowingly violated the judge's orders and delivered a report that is biased and scientifically indefensible," Veiga said. "No legitimate court in the world would permit such a charade."

Chevron also accused Cabrera of taking too many samples from fields that were the sole responsibility of Petroecuador, not taking enough samples overall, and making other research errors.

While the odds of a prompt liberation of Ingrid Betancourt appear bleak, a video of one Colombian hostage was revealed on Thursday. Former congressman Oscar Tulio Lizcano was been captured by the FARC in 2000 and in his message he emphasized that the Uribe administration needs to seek a political solution:

“To [the Colombian] government I ask to reconsider your stubborn attitude against a demilitarization zone. We ask that you do not consider a military rescue, as we do not want our families to receive us as bones in body bags…”

“I am a sinking ship with its lights on” he said in another part of his message while he was surrounded by armed guerillas.­– [ed. personal translation]

The video with Lizcano’s message was revealed by Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba.She has become a lightning rod of controversy over her mediatory role between the FARC and the government.Her political relationship with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has been of intense particular scrutiny with one columnist going as far as calling her a modern-day Mata Hari.

'Some say the problem facing indigenous people is just poverty, and that good targeting of subsidies would be the most appropriate policy. But we, on the other hand, maintain that it is a matter of rights, of a collective identity seeking expression in a multicultural society,' said Bachelet at a ceremony Tuesday in the palace of La Moneda, the seat of government.

'We are making progress on indigenous affairs, but now is the time to go further, and above all at a faster pace. We have the will, the grassroots support, the resources, the commitment and the legitimacy to do so,' she said."

There has been a new wave of violence against indigenous communities in Chile and an ongoing policy of taking lands from indigenous communities for public works projects.

The actual actions of this new policy are vague, at best, and it remains to be seen if and how the policy is put into real effect.

Chou Nu Wu Di. Colombian Betty la Fea launched Mexico's la Fea Mas Bella and here in the U.S. we have Ugly Betty. I've even seen an Indian version on my neighbor's television. Mexico’s Grupo Televisa began production on the Chinese version of La fea más bella.

According to Televisa, the drama could extend for as long as 400 episodes, and it has been “adapted to Chinese tastes” to make sure its content doesn’t offend the locals.

I think the whole original premise is pretty damn offensive, I mean in the end, the fea becomes bella and gets her man. Pero I hate on novelas like that.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe harshly criticized presidential contender Barack Obama over the senator’s opposition to a free trade pact with Colombia.Uribe “deplored” Obama’s viewpoint which he claimed was said “without knowing all the information about Colombia.”

"I will oppose the Colombia Free Trade Agreement if President Bush insists on sending it to Congress because the violence against unions in Colombia would make a mockery of the very labor protections that we have insisted be included in these kinds of agreements," Obama said Wednesday at a meeting of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO in Philadelphia.

Andrés Oppenheimer's latest column digs into whether the Republican Party has ruined McCain's chance of any Latino support.

Oppenheimer says the party's anti-immigration rhetoric, most of which came across as anti-Hispanic to many voters, gives McCain an "uphill battle" for what he estimates as needing about 40 percent of estimated 9 million Hispanic voters to win in November.

McCain is more popular than the other Republican candidates were, after leading immigration reform in 2006, but Hispanics primarily vote Democrat and have supported Hillary Clinton in waves.

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain gave a major foreign policy speech last week.Though most of the attention was placed on tensions in the Middle East and U.S. military deployment in Iraq, McCain criticized Russia’s government and threatened them by using Brazil:

But it was his stab at India's old ally Russia, a country with which the Bush administration forged a close partnership in the beginning, that surprised analysts. Warning against the dangers posed by a ''revanchist'' Russia, McCain said the US should ensure that the G8, the group of eight highly industrialized states, becomes again a club of leading market democracies: it should include Brazil and India but exclude Russia, he said.

Pro-immigration advocates held a small protest yesterday in front of New York’s Penn Station to reject allegedly discriminatory practices on Amtrak and Greyhound.They expressed their opposition to unannounced raids conducted by immigration officials after passengers board the bus or train.

Depending on your judgment the raids may or may not be unfair.Yet they hardly seem effective as this excerpt from the New York Times’ City Room blog revealed:

But how does one exactly prove citizenship?...

“All you have to do is state you are a U.S. citizen,” [Department of Homeland Security spokesman Ramon] Rivera said of the Border and Customs Patrol.

That’s it? That seemed suspiciously simple. What if people lie?

And indeed they do. Each year, “We have thousands of people falsely claiming to a U.S. citizens,” he said.

Well, then a simple declarative statement of citizenship doesn’t seem to be a very effective filter, does it?

That’s where the biometric fingerprints, background checks and interviews come in, he explained.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

I don't know whether to laugh or cringe while listening to the following pro-Obama song done cumbia-style.

Please no mas with the pandering songs by/for candidates! (I might reconsider, however, if there were a John McCain/Daddy Yankee reggaeton duet or a Ralph Nader technocumbia sing-along with Matt Gonzalez).

A vote by Ecuador’s popular assembly put another nail in the coffin to the U.S. presence at the Manta air base.Legislators backed the proposal to as part of a series of constitutional amendments which could be approved by a referendum later this year.

The proposal’s text took aim at the U.S. whose base in Manta is key to counternarcotics operations and is the only foreign military facility in Ecuador:

The position has been understood and we ratify the lack of interest to renew in 2009 the 1999 controversial accord to use the southeastern Manta military base by US military forces," states the text.

"Ecuador is a peaceful territory. It does not allow the establishment of foreign military bases or foreign facilities with military purposes. We cannot give national military bases to foreign forces, and we close any actions destined to extend beyond next year the presence of Pentagon troops in this nation."

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has been adamant in his opposition to the U.S. base in Manta and has vowed to reject renewing the base’s lease which expires next year. As we noted in January, a senior U.S. official doubted that they would pursue building “another large base in the region” if they’re booted off of Manta.

No, the “Hugo” in question is not Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez but instead it’s Hugo Sanchez.The man who was arguably Mexico’s greatest futbolista was fired as head coach of the Mexican men’s soccer team.“El Tri’s” highest point under Sanchez was getting a third-place finish in last year’s Copa America.However a series of disappointing results led to Sanchez’ undoing including not winning against arch-rivals the U.S. and failing to qualify to the Olympics.

Sanchez’s failure to do more with the talent he had, and his inability to best arch rival the United States, led to his dismissal.

“We want leaders; we cannot accept another failure, another Olympic failure,” said Justino Compeán, the Mexican federation president. “If that was difficult, could you imagine if Mexico didn’t make it to South Africa?”

Ramirez Abadia, who is also wanted in the United States, has been found guilty of money laundering, corruption, criminal conspiracy and use of false documents. Besides the 30-year sentence, Ramirez Abadia must also pay a fine worth $2.5 million.

Now President President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has to decide if he should extradite Ramirez Abadia to the U.S. to face charges.

Government television said Tuesday that 51 percent of arable land is underused or fallow, a problem officials hope to rectify by temporarily transferring some of it to private farmers and associations representing small, private producers.The president of Cuba's national farmers association, Orlando Lugo, said 'everyone who wants to produce tobacco will be given land to produce tobacco,' and it will be the same for coffee or anything else.

This is actually a program that began last year but was just recently announces, likely capitalizing on the press surrounding other "reforms".

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Recently a human rights group called Breakthrough uploaded the trailer to a video game focusing on immigration. Entitled “ICED - The Immigrant Shuffle”, the game allows players to acts as immigrants trying to survive in the U.S.

Two female Latin American presidents were scheduled to visit Britain this week.

Chile's president Michelle Bachelet and Argentina's president Cristina de Kirchner were to arrive for separate visits. Kirchner cancelled her trip to discuss sovereignty and the Falkland Islands because of the farmers' strike.

A column from the New Statesman offers an opinion on what this means in the context of the United Kingdom's relations with the region.

A White House aide resigned recently over allegations that he misused funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).Felipe Sixto- the now ex-associate director of the office of intergovernmental affairs- quit his post over "a conflict of interest" relating to USAID funds at his previous job at the Center for a Free Cuba.

Florida Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart said in a joint statement that they were "deeply disturbed by any allegation of misuse of taxpayer funds" and urged the Department of Justice and the USAID's inspector general "to move thoroughly and swiftly in investigating all the facts in this matter."

Joe Garcia, a Democrat running to unseat Mario Diaz-Balart, said the resignation underscored "the fundamental flaws of a policy designed to win votes in Miami and patronize partisan supporters, not bring freedom to Cuba."

In light of Sixto’s resignation, White House officials said they have modified its policy on funding anti-Castro groups.

The freedom of press in numerous Latin American countries is “under threat”, according to the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA).The IAPA conference cited the governments of Cuba and Venezuela for detaining journalists and increasing restrictions against the press, respectively.Yet the IAPA also highlighted other countries for not ensuring full liberties to the media:

The IAPA statement singled out the United States for trying to erode a reporter's right to source confidentiality, noting court "cases where federal judges force journalists to reveal their sources and impose heavy fines on them."The IAPA meeting also issued a resolution against the growing number of unsolved murders and kidnappings of journalists in Argentina, Honduras, Haiti, Mexico and Colombia, whose governments it urged to investigate "quickly and thoroughly."

The IAPA conference was in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas where a parallel forum was also held denouncing the supposed conspiracy between regional media and “the corporate elite.”

Cuban hotel employees have said that the government has lifted a ban against citizens staying at tourist hotels.Previously only Cuban newlyweds and “distinguished workers and students” were permitted to stay in the country’s hotels.Today’s edict also allows ordinary Cubans access to those hotels only if they pay in hard currency.

I am sure that every Cuban who awoke this morning trying to figure out how he or she was going to feed their families this week is going to feel a whole lot better about their situation when they hear this news. Who cares about such unimportant things like food and freedom when you have the privilege to stay in a hotel you cannot afford?